Curious Words from a Muslim Cleric in Nigeria

Sheikh Nura Khalid, the Chief Imam of Legislators’ Quarter’s Mosque, made the call in a telephone interview.

In our view, this call amounts to more meaningless platitudes that we see and hear around the world from Islamic clerics.

We noticed that Khalid made a general statement that Nigerians “should not allow disgruntled elements who find pleasure in destruction to destroy our nation in the name of religion.”

What he did NOT say is perhaps more significant than what he did say. His words sound soothing to the untrained ear, but notice that he did not come out and condemn Boko Haram, the Nigerian Jihadist terrorist organization that has been responsible for repeated bloody attacks on Christian churches, especially on Christian holy days.

One of the journalists should have asked the Sheikh to specifically condemn Boko Haram. The Sheikh’s response would have been interesting. Had he done so, it would have been much more significant than general statements about peace, harmony and violence.

Even better would have been a question asking the Sheikh to discredit violent Jihad. THAT would have been interesting indeed!